Woman accused of killing lizard, running amok

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A San Carlos woman fatally stabbed her boyfriend’s pet bearded dragon in cold blood, the first act of a drama that ended with her in jail for trying to grab a sheriff’s deputy’s gun, authorities say.

Shawna Apour, 37, killed the lizard because she thought her boyfriend was flirting with other women, said San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

The attack happened at about 3:40 a.m. Saturday at a home on the 1000 block of Crestview Drive, where the couple had been living together for a year, authorities said.

The victim was Speedy, a 14-year-old bearded dragon, said sheriff’s Lt. Ray Lunny. Speedy clung to life for three days before dying.

Apour proceeded to go outside, vandalize her boyfriend’s brother’s 1958 Buick with the knife that killed the lizard and slash the tires of two other cars, scratching “hate crime” on the hood of one of them, Wagstaffe said.

Sheriff’s deputies were called, and Apour brandished the knife at them before she was subdued with the help of a Taser shock weapon and arrested, Lunny said.

Apour posted $25,000 bail and was released. At about 6:50 p.m. Tuesday — the same day Speedy died — her frantic mother called police with the news that Apour was walking on the railroad tracks near the San Carlos train station, Wagstaffe said.

Apour became aggressive when approached and tried to grab Deputy Bridget Hensley’s gun and Taser, Lunny said. Hensley subdued her, and Apour was again jailed. She told deputies that she had tried to yank away the gun because the “government was screwing her,” prosecutors said.

Apour has been charged with domestic violence, cruelty to animals, vandalism, brandishing a weapon, possession of a weapon, resisting arrest and disobeying a law enforcement officer. She is being held at San Mateo County Jail on $200,000 bail.